Short Stack
by madamkrosis
Summary: A small drabble where an argument between Dean and Gabriel has the childish Archangel turning the eldest Winchester into an actual child leaving Sam and Castiel to deal with the consequences. Sam is at wits end when Cas throws his hat into the ring.


AN—Used a Person A and Person B imagine your OTP picture as a base for this drabble. It might not be very long, but I'm hoping to hit the mark.

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Castiel groaned internally. Today couldn't get any worse. Here he was in the bunker coming to _**for once**_ to Sam's call for aid. He didn't do it often to his own shame, but he stuck by his words. He and Dean shared a profound bond and he wasn't willing to admit it was because of his own personal feelings for the elder hunter. Putting that aside, Castiel took a moment to take a deep breath from where stood in the Bunkers War Room and prepared himself for the yelling coming from down the corridor.

"Dammit, Gabe!" Sam bellowed loudly "Dean! Get down from there!"

Sam was nearly at his wits end. One fussy fight between Gabe and his brother over something idiotic and the next thing he knew, his brother was swimming in his clothes and he was now a BIG brother.

 _Castiel, please come and help me. Shit's going down and Gabe is….well, Gabe. Help….._

Gabe snickered his ass off, holding onto the library table for support. This was too rich. Candy is for kids, huh? Well, see about that, Dean-o. Zip, bang, pop-big bubba Dean is now a kid himself. Man, he loved pranks.

"GABE! Fix this, NOW!"

Gabriel nearly flinched at Moose's bellow. The guy really needed to take a vacation.

The hunter was red in the face, trying to position himself to catch Dean if he fell. Freaking Dean now shrunk down to the ripe age of eight years old. How could this get any worse? Oh right, it did. Being a small child the tiny hunter thought it was a good idea to mountain climb his way up Sam and onto the edging of the Library's bookshelf just to see how high he could get. Sam was almost glad he was maybe three when his brother went through the "must climb everything" stage of child development. He didn't think it was really a thing until he saw a few of his girlfriend's nieces and nephews go crazy for it.

"SHIT!"

After knocking over yet another chair trying to get a better sight on his brother, Sam nearly didn't notice his saving grace walk through the doorway.

"Thank God, Castiel. You're here."

The dark haired angel gently tipped his head in confusion, his gravelly voice sounding almost heavenly compared to the literal screaming that's been going on the last hour.

"Why are you thanking God? I thought it was me you were praying to. That is what I heard."

Sam let out a long sigh. Seriously, thank whoever. He felt like he was going to have an aneurism at this rate.

"I can't get Dean down. Please help."

The dark haired angel slowly tilted his head upward to the high shelves of books. A tiny, buzz cut child nearly to the top of the ceiling laughed like it was his first trip to the park. Cas had seen children like this and observed them often since his normal way of relaxation couldn't be achieved. At one time, he would observe peoples personal heavens and learned quite a bit from humans. These small humans were energetic, playful, and sometimes rude. They had to be tricked in order to do what was best for them even when they themselves did not realize it.

"Dean." Cas said softly, seemingly taking over the reins of this self proclaimed hostage situation.

Sam clenched his fists and stepped aside. If his brother would listen to anyone, it had to be Cas.

"Dean." The gruff angel tried again as the young boy forced himself a few feet higher "It is time to come down."

Castiel was surprised his pleas fell on deaf ears. The only notice he had gotten was the child turning his head to the Angel and smiling widely before putting more effort in his climb. He was afraid Dean would be a harder nut to crack. Cas had to be tough for this. He had to use what he had learned a while back with Claire to handle this. Granted, there was next to nothing comparable between a small boy and an angry teenage girl, but his observations hopefully will give him some guidance. Standing his ground, the Angel cleared his throat and spoke with as much authority as he could in a moment like this.

"Get down from there!"

Dean faltered, knocking an old encyclopedia off the shelf. The child's playful smile quickly soured as he looked down at his best friend. Gabriel snorted under his breath from the sidelines. This was too great. Not only had he shrunk down the older Winchester, he took everything except his memories to make this fun. I mean, what fun is an angry brat when he's surrounded by strangers?

"NO WAY!" Dean screeched back, pulling and throwing more books down on top of them.

Damn. Cas had to be smarter about this. The angel worried his lip briefly, trying to think of something to say.

"I'm going to call the police." He yelled back, voice cracking slightly under his lie. "They'll get you down."

Dean stopped his mayhem for nearly two solid minutes thinking of his reply. Had Castiel won this battle? He hoped so, this felt much more stressful than dealing with the Leviathin. The silence in the room was deafening. Sam was looking up with hopeful puppy eyes and Gabe was still bent over, no doubt ready for his next bought of hysterical laughter. Castiel knew better than to leave his elder brother alone. He had too much faith in his ability to behave, unfortunately.

"Go ahead," Dean screeched almost angrily, a temper tantrum mounting. "I'll fight them!"

Shit. Cas almost crumbled in defeat. Even as a child, Dean was fierce and was hard to give up on what he wanted. He had to think, what would Mary do? A moment of realization hit just then. Popping out for a few minutes and back to a newly screaming Sam, Castiel stood to the side with a warm pan in his hand. Sam was nearly hoarse by now. He glanced over and was surprised to see his friend back and ready to try again. Dealing with children is horribly exhaustion.

"Dean!" Cas barked out to gain the tiny Winchester's attention. "I have pie!"

It was like magic. The screaming child stared wide eyed at Cas and then broke out into a wide smile when he saw the tin pan held up in one hand like the servers at Dean's favorite Diners. Sam heaved a heavy sigh and threw himself into a leather armchair. The stress was killing him and he was about ready to give up. He got up there, he can get down. The younger Winchester buried his face in his hands and waited for Dean's reply. It was silent, almost too silent for several minutes. The sound of clunking books and paper was the only background noise. Sam glanced over and could literally feel Gabe's shit eating grin. The tiny clop of shoes hitting floor pulled the brother out of his thoughts. There, standing among his own wreckage, Dean stared down Castiel with a face that would scream tough if he wasn't currently standing around four foot tall.

"I totally would have fought them." He answered grumpily while eyeing the pie.

Cas had to control the tiny smirk trying to make its way onto his lips. His trick had worked. He didn't think that thinking of Mary and Dean's love for pie would be the key to fixing this. Gently, he reached out and took the Winchester's tiny hand in his own and guided him toward the kitchen.

"I know you would."


End file.
